Zen Mind, Beginner’s mind Reaction
Zen Mind, Beginner’s mind is really a book about how to handle every day life. Although the ideas are very abstract, they can be applied to everything we do. Thorough out the book there are several repeated themes such as an emphasis on neutrality and not attaching; and the notion that we are already enlightened, we simply need to wake up to this fact. In addition, 'nether nor'/'either or' concepts dominate the book. The idea of small mind and big mind also play a key role. The book is a reflection of talks given by Shunryu Suzuki about Zazen zen practice. Other than the pre and post sections, the book is divided in to three major sections reflecting Buddhist philosophy: right practice, right attitude and right understanding. The introduction and prolog present key concepts to understanding the rest of the book. The Introduction expresses that the purpose of all Zen teaching is to make you go beyond yourself, to think beyond words and discover what your own mind and beings are. This is something I do not see enough people around me doing. Perhaps it is because "English is thoroughly dualistic in its basic assumptions and has not had the opportunity over centuries to develop a way of expressing non dualistic Buddhist id
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Mind Waves, Suzuki Zazen, God Giving, Mind Beginners, mind mind, explains mind, true nature, zazen practice, chapter explains, expression true nature, buddhist philosophy, idea mind, attain enlightenment, swinging door, zazen section,
Approximate Word count = 1636
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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